In the eyes of a model kit, all modelers are equal.

Places I've been and things I've seen

10/08/2018

Today, I’m going to tackle a subject that I’ve skated around for a few years. This topic, more than any other in scale modeling, can be the most polarizing thing there is in the hobby —the topic is judging scale models. I will try to remain objective and neutral on my observations…

Full disclosure: I am an IPMS/USA and an AMPS member. My last full effort for competition in IPMS was the 2000 Space Coast show. My last model on an IPMS competition table was at the 2005 Atlanta Nationals. Why? One, I subscribe to David Sarnoff's (the guy behind RCA and NBC back in the day) theory that "competition brings out the best in products and the worst in people". I have been witness to more bent feelings, hot tempers, and bad blood at IPMS contests that I can shake a stick at, all because someone didn't get a big shiny to take home to prove to the world that he or she was The God of Styrene that week. Two, the actual construction of a model falls under the heading of “craft”, but the final finish certainly borders on being art. How do you judge art as a winner or loser?

For the record, I have a rather large box of plaques and medals that I've won at model shows through the years, from a 3rd place plaque from an Embry-Riddle model show in 1983 to a Best Aircraft and “Best Between the Wars” plaque, a special award, from the 2000 Space Coast show, so this isn't being colored by sour grapes. I build my models for me, and if they happen to garner some ugly plaque buildup, so much the better. I don't do this for adulation, because after the show is over I still have to go to work and pay the bills...

Without getting into the weeds with the various systems out in the world used to judge a model show, I will instead take a look at the two most common systems used here in the United States. They are the IPMS/USA system—commonly referred to as a “1-2-3” system, where every category (entries permitting) has a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winner.

The other system is Open Judging, the best known being the system that AMPS uses. AMPS doesn’t so much judge a model as they do score it, and multiple awards are possible within any given category.

These are some observations that I've collected over the years--some of them are actually mine, but most are from talking with others. The general claims and observations are in standard type, my comments are in italics.

The IPMS system works like this—your model is placed on the table, in the relevant category. Once registration closes and all the models are on the table, a team of judges evaluates each category. They’ll look for basics: alignment, mold flaws, construction flaws, finish, detailing, etc. If a model exhibits major flaws, they’ll be cut out of the running. All the while, the models are compared to each other as well as to a mental “standard” that each judge is supposed to know and grasp.

The models that make the cut are again evaluated in the same manner but to a more focused look. Eventually, the team arrives at the top four or five models. The final cut is taking those four or five models and determining a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winner. Remember, throughout the process the models are not only being evaluated to the nebulous “standard”, they are also being compared to each other.

So, the observations:

IPMS judging picks “Winners”! (and, by extension, “losers”.)

If you "win", you get a big shiny trophy! (But if you don't, you get bupkus.This especially applies to competition newbies--they haven't yet grasped the nuances of how the deal works.)

“If you want to know why your model didn’t ‘win’”, they’ll tell you, "ask a judge.”. (This is a noble effort, but it usually doesn’t result in anything. Asking a judge is usually futile, since they want to get out and go home, too--it also seldom works, especially if the judge or judges you consult weren't involved with your model, because part of the IPMS judging scheme requires the comparison of your model to the others on the table. So, even if the judge that worked your category was there and remembered the way the judging unfolded, they really can't say for sure why you "lost", since they don't have the other models there for comparison.)

IPMS awards the modeler, not the model. (Despite claims to the contrary from the IPMS Hard-Liners, the IPMS 1-2-3 system awards the model, not the modeler. Think about it--if it rewarded the modeler, their model's standing in the show wouldn't depend on what else was on the table with it.)

Under this system, a model could win Best in Show one week and get shut out the following week at the contest a few hours down the road. (I’ve seen this first-hand, more than once. Any repeat-ability is purely coincidental.)

IPMS judges learn on the fly from people who aren't always the best teachers. (Most are very good at what they do, but I've come across a few guys who call themselves “IPMS Senior Nationals Judges” who still don't grasp what it is that the Society is trying to accomplish--they see it is a zero-sum, win-lose "bloodsport", damn the “casual hobby” aspects of it. In short, they're bullies, bent on choosing only the models THEY deem as an appropriate “winner”. You don’t see this often at the Nationals level, but it is still hanging around in the Local/Regional areas. These guys are the ones who are insistent on judging accuracy, so you’ll know how to spot them…)

What the IPMS 1-2-3 system has going for it is speed--you can evaluate and judge a room full of models in a few hours. A good team of judges can take a category of 20 models and determine the winners in less than 30 minutes. (It also appeals to most Americans' desire to be called a “winner”, where 2nd place is the “First loser”.)

Now, let’s take a look at Open Judging (sometimes erroneously referred to a Gold-Silver-Bronze system) as employed by AMPS:

AMPS uses an open system where your models are placed in front of a panel of three or four judges and the model evaluated to a written "standard", and are judged in a “stand-alone” situation rather than being compared to the other models it competes with. (That standard merely quantifies the basics--alignment, construction, detailing, and finish--the very same basics that IPMS judges are taught to evaluate. And note that neither organization judges accuracy.)

AMPS has several skill levels--Junior, Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced. It is a ladder system—as your skills improve, you can be promoted to the next highest skill level. This usually takes place at the annual AMPS International Convention. (AMPS is one of the few hobby groups that also has a Master level--The National Model Railroad Association is the other, they feature a path to Master Model Railroader. Rather than just proclaim yourself a “Master Modeler” because you’ve built a gazillion models, won at the Nationals, and maybe written a few articles for a magazine, in order to become an AMPS Master you must win Judge's Best of Show at the AMPS International Convention. And, in order to do that, you have to be an Advanced member who earns a Gold at that show, and then go on to win Best of Show. ONE person gets elevated to AMPS Master per year.)

The judges write comments on the score sheet, and you get that score sheet back at the end of the show. (Most AMPS modelers want the score sheet with the judges’ comments more that they want the medal--we have one guy in our AMPS Chapter who routinely earns a fistful of medals every year, and he gives them back to us every year.)

AMPS certifies their judges through a standardized training system. (Up until a few years ago, it was administered by their Chief Judge, who would travel from show to show to train new judges, ensuring uniformity. These days, there is a team of trainers.)

The AMPS OJT consists of sitting for two shifts after you've received the classroom training. Only then do you get your credentials. (IPMS' OJT criteria aren't as stringent. Not to say the way IPMS does it is "wrong" and AMPS is "right", just throwing it out there to compare and contrast. IPMS judges only receive “credentials” after 20 years as a judge at the National Convention.)

In theory (and in practice 99% of the time), a model that earns a Gold medal in a given skill level at one show will earn the same medal at another AMPS show. (In other words, there is documented repeat-ability in the system.)

Now, here are the drawbacks. Open Judging, done correctly, takes time. A lot of time. We (AMPS Central South Carolina) host a show every year. Registration opens at 8:30, the show runs until 5. Judging starts at 8:30 and runs until approximately 3PM--and this is for around 100 models. (Most IPMS local and regional shows draw a few hundred, and a National Convention draws a few thousand models. Most AMPS local shows--they call them regional--draws around 100, and their International show draws a couple hundred for scoring.)

The associated drawback (for some) is how AMPS actually confers awards. If you bring seven armor models, all in different categories, you have the potential to take home seven medals. But if you bring seven Sherman tanks, all in U.S. Army markings, you will take home the highest medal awarded to your body of work because their all entered into the same category. In other words, AMPS rewards the modeler and his or her efforts, not individual models. So, AMPS is sometimes seen as limiting the number of models entered by doing this. (Those who poo-poo that idea don't realize that AMPS has always had Display Only space at their shows, something IPMS has struggled with through the years.)

The only place where someone at an AMPS contest can be a "winner" (in the "I'm Number One!" sense) is in the Best Of's. The Best Of's are chosen by taking all of the Advanced level Gold medal winners in a given category and judging them in an identical fashion to the IPMS 1-2-3 system: count the flaws and compare between the eligible models. Best of Show takes all the category Best Of's and does the same thing. Otherwise, you are submitting a 3D research paper and getting a grade.

All that being said, is one system better than the other? I don’t know. It all depends on what is expected from a model show.

If you want to be The God of Styrene for that week and have all the bragging rights associated with the title, if you want to be the Big Winner, you probably prefer the 1-2-3 system. It is a system, as we have discussed, that picks winners and losers. You won’t learn much from the exercise.

If you want to measure your abilities as a modeler, learn from your mistakes, and climb the ladder as you gain experience, the Open Judging system is probably the one you will choose. You get that feedback from the judges telling you what they saw on your model, both good and bad. You take that feedback and apply what you’ve learned to your next model.

Something else you ought to know--these days there are several IPMS Chapters who have used what they call a hybrid system, where the categories are evaluated as normal in a 1-2-3 system, then the top 5 or 6 models get the Open Judging score sheet treatment. I don't like this--the people at the top really don't need the score sheet and comments, as they usually have a pretty good grasp on what they're doing (yeah, sometimes we "experienced" modelers make boneheaded mistakes and don't realize it, but usually we're on top of things). The folks that don't make the cut are the ones who could really use the coaching. Plus, by not treating all the models entered in the show the same way, you insert a double standard into the mix.

I’ve seen some rather pointed comments made after a show here in the Southeast concluded, the group having adopted one of these hybrid systems. The main comment from one person I know was (and I’m paraphrasing here), “I got two Silvers, but if I wanted critique on my models with feedback, I’d take it to the club meeting. I want to know where I stand when I’m stacked up against other modelers.”

This all leads me to my last suggestion: Before you enter any contest, read the rules applicable to said contest. Don't like the rules? Don't play the game. It is as easy as that. If you see the show is running an Open system, and you don’t like it, don’t play. I can assure you that the show organizers aren’t going to change their judging system for you.

Finally, here’s some good reading material for you…

IPMS has their rules and a Modelers Guide to IPMS Contests available on their website. They are downloadable, and are worth perusing.

This weekend, we traveled to the 32nd Annual Atlanta Airliner Collectibles Show at the Delta Flight Museum. As usual, it was a nice event. On the model front, I didn't get too much--I picked up an 8A Decals sheet for 1/144 Braniff two-tone DC-8's, and later at the "World's Largest HobbyTown" I managed to finally get a copy of the Eduard 1/72 MiG-21MF. I'll give both products a review at some point.

If you are an airliner geek, though, you go to this show simply because of the airplane watching you can do. The show's hotel is the Renaissance Concourse about a block away from the Delta Museum. If you go be sure to request a runway view. Granted, this IS Atlanta and therefore most of the air traffic wears Delta colors, but you will see a lot of other airlines, too, especially Southwest. Spirit, Frontier, Jet Blue, American, and United also have gates at ATL, as do Air Canada, Virgin Atlantic, Korean Air, Air France, and British Airways. Cargo operators include Challenge, Omni Air Express, China Southern, FedEx, UPS, and other smaller carriers. The variety of aircraft is interesting, too, from Canadair Regional Jets to Boeing 747 cargo ships. Here's a small selection of the photos we took:

A Delta A330 on the flare. One of my rides to Mesa last year was aboard one of these critters.

A couple of shots of one of Delta's new A350's, this one arriving from Inchon, South Korea. As the photos tend to show, it was a rather hot and hazy day in Atlanta for early October, but the sky colors were gorgeous.

An Air France 777. This feller usually arrives on Saturday afternoon, hot on the heels of a British Airways and Lufthansa flight--both of which didn't happen this year. A shame, too, since LH usually brings an A340 into town...

One of Delta's 777-200's. I have to remind myself that these are now considered "old" airplanes.

One of Delta's 757-300's. We saw a few of these this year...

Delta 767.

A FedEx 767F.

One of Spirit Airlines' A-319's. Looks like Stewie Griffin should be flying...

A Virgin Atlantic A330. I think I saw more A330's this visit than I have in the past...

The most unusual visitor this past weekend? A United Airlines 787, carrying the Los Angeles Dodgers to Atlanta for the National League Divisional Series. It was getting dark by the time they arrived, I feel fortunate to have snapped the photo. If they had been delayed a minute or two longer, the shot would have been difficult...

And, finally, here are a couple of shots of the new Model Room at the Delta Flight Museum. They're just putting this collection together, so it is a work in progress. You should visit if you haven't already done so, and next year offers a neat opportunity: The Airliners International show will be there next June 19-22. I'd imagine the Collectibles show will also be back next October...

That's all I have this time. More later.

Thanks for reading. Be good to one another, and as always, I bid you Peace.

05/22/2018

As the Cajun Chef Justin Wilson would say, "How y'all are? I'm so glad for you to see me some more!"

Since we last crossed paths, a lot has happened. Our Mesa Project is over, ended prematurely by our customer. So, no more treks cross-continent--which is a good thing and a bad thing, because as long as it wasn't in the summer months, I enjoyed the time I spent in Arizona. This also means that I've been between projects since January, which means I have time on my hands--and time that isn't always spent in the best of manners.

I guess that's why I volunteered to "un-retire" and ask the guys in the local IPMS Chapter to trust me to run the club for a few years. "I wanted a mission, and for my sins, they gave me one..."

So, having time on my hands and something that I need to spend time on has got me writing articles for our club newsletter. I've done a few so far, and I have two or three more lurking out there amongst my research materials on projects near and dear to me. The first I wrote was a short piece on the various Army missile sites situated in and around South Florida during the aftermath of the Cuban Missile crisis and how those spots look today. Since we're in South Carolina, and I have never seen anyone in the club do so, I also did a two-part history of the 169 Fighter Wing, the flying unit of the South Carolina Air National Guard. Waiting in the wings? I'd like to do a short piece on the 321st and 340th Bombardment Groups, two units that were assembled and trained here at what is now the Columbia Metropolitan Airport. I've also been refining my "Model Building 101" seminar that I first presented at the 2016 IPMS/USA National Convention. And, while all this has been fun, it has caused me to do some digging in back issues of old magazines--where I'm greeted almost every time with some sort of "Blast from the Past"...

The first thing I recalled were the Alpha Cyanoacrylate Cements (ACC, also known as CA, "Super Glue", "Krazy Glue", and a host of other trade and nicknames) that we had available to us in the day. Dad would usually have one of the syrette-type tubes of Krazy Glue hanging around, and every now and then he'd bring home an expired bottle of Eastman 910, the great-granddaddy of all ACCs from work--he worked at a bio-medical company for a while and they paid strict attention to dates. The glue was still perfectly fine, except the date on the container said it couldn't be used.

A few years later, I found Satellite City's "Hot Stuff"--the original bottles were flat-topped and used the little piece of Teflon tubing as an applicator nozzle. And, boy, did it work! I first discovered it when my brother was building a Dumas tunnel-hull radio control boat. I happened to be building my one and only "real" model (according to Dad), a Guillows large scale Spitfire. I used Titebond for most of the construction--I wasn't concerned with weight, since I was building it as a shelf sitter--but when I needed to lock something into place NOW, I'd hit it with Hot Stuff, and pow, it was secured. I tried it on some of the plastic models I built later on, and found that it worked fairly well on them, but that I was still a bit lacking in my technique--so what I usually wound up with was a misaligned bit of model that took a while to sort out. But it was good stuff, and it is actually still available. In the years since, I've used the Pacer "Zap" line of ACC, Carl Goldberg's "Jet", the "Krazy Glue" formulations, and the Bob Smith Industries products, but if it was still as readily available as it was in the early 1980's, I'd probably still be using Hot Stuff...these days, Bob Smith is what is usually available, so it is what I use...

Another product from days gone by are fillers. Back in my formative years, there was only one readily available hobby filler worth using, and that was good, old, Squadron Green Putty. And boy, did I use it by the metric ton. I'd glue the parts together, and once the glue was dry I'd smear a nice bead of putty on every seam. I guess I liked sanding for weeks back then, I dunno. As my technique improved, and as I realized that I didn't need to use the whole tube on just one model, I started to use less. At some point, I used Duratite putty, and later tried the Dr. Microtools' red putty--nice stuff, but if you are painting something white, it was a huge pain in the hinder. About the same time, Squadron introduced their White Putty. I've used it ever since, at least as far as solvent-based putties go. I've added a few to my arsenal--namely, CA, Deluxe Products' Perfect Plastic Putty, and Apoxie Sculp. That last one reminded me that I originally used Duro's E-Pox-E Ribbon--you probably remember it if you used it, it has a blue and a yellow component, and when it cured it was this garish green color. Once I discovered Milliput, thought, I switched. And, when Apoxie Sculp debuted and I could get it easier than Milliput, I switched.

But of all the products I look back on, the one that I always come to is paint. In my kid days building models in the neighborhood, you were either a Testors fan or a Pactra kid--a lot depended on where you shopped for paint. It seems to me that the drug store closest to the house (as well as the local K-Mart and Treasury discount store) carried the Testors Pla Enamels, and the drug store across the street carried Pactra 'Namel. Back then, we only knew we needed paint, we weren't particular, but I was always under the impression that the Testors bottles held more paint that the jewel-faceted 'Namel jars did. I used the Testors Flats, mostly, and continued to use them when I transitioned from using the hairy stick to using the airbrush for my final finishes. That is, until about 1981...

Remember my stories of the Otaki Corsair, and how it became my Great White Whale, and how I so thoroughly botched my first attempt that I had to wait until the shop got another kit? Between those two, I built the Otaki Hellcat, and since I had already bought the paint for the Corsairs, I'd simply use them on the Hellcat, too. These were different--these were the square bottles of Pactra's Authentic International Colors. And boy, how I loved that paint. I had discovered that using Aero Gloss Dope thinner really cut the Testors flat enamel paint and made it lay down well and flash quickly, and it held no surprises when I did the same with the Pactra stuff. Of course, my luck being what it is, a few months after I discovered the stuff, it was being discontinued. No matter, as I was in for a change anyway...

When I started college, I was trying to be considerate to my roommates, so I tried the original Polly-S. For those of you younger than 30, this was the original hobby "acrylic"--actually, it was latex paint. It hand brushed very nicely, but to airbrush it was a bit of a crap shoot. See, you could thin it with water or alcohol, neither of which was 100% reliable with any given bottle of paint. Some bottles would do well with either, other bottles would only work well with water, and some bottles would curdle into a tight little ball if you tried alcohol. I got real good at troubleshooting paint in those days, and I used it until it, too, was starting to pass from the scenes. When I couldn't get colors like RLM02 and Non-Spec Sea Blue, it was telling me that I needed to find a new paint. It actually found me...

About the same time Polly-S was sinking, the gang at Floquil had begun to produce the "re-formulated" military colors, in the form of their "new" (for 1992-ish) line. Now, I was quite content to use Polly-S (as well as the Tamya and Gunze/GSI acrylics), but given the range of colors, I just had to try the new Floquil line. I did. I liked it. I used it. Well, until the advent of PollyScale...

There were other acrylics that I tried back in the day, too. I liked the original Tamiya acrylics. They were an absolute joy to use. They then started to fiddle with the chemistry of their paints, and for several years I simply could not get it to work, come Hell or high water. I also liked the Gunze Aqueous line to an extent, but I found that it didn't give as good a coverage as the others did. Along the way, I also tried the Testor Model Master Acrylics (the line that preceded the Acryl colors we have now), and found them to be the most useless model paint I ever encountered. The experience I had with them colored my opinion of the later Acryl line until I tried them.

Then there was "Niche"/"Red Paint". They came out in the early 1990's with these supposed hyper-accurate paints formulated for late war Luftwaffe and Soviet colors. I have actually had good results with the one bottle of "Soviet Dielectric Green" I bought (check out the MiG-21 I built--the antennas are all done with this paint), and wish I had bought more when it was available.

I tried the ProModeler paints once, too--the less said, the better. They weren't as useless as the Testor Model Master Acrylics, but they came pretty close.

Coming full circle, one of the last of the "others" that I really liked were the Pactra Acrylics. And, as my luck runs, it wasn't around long once I discovered it.

Back to PollyScale. Bar none, this is the best acrylic I have ever used, before or since. I liked it so much that I simply gave away all my Floquil enamels. If this stuff was still around, I'd be using it. No question. But, as we have seen from RPM (the parent company of Testors, Bondo, and Rust-Oleum) a few times, well, they just couldn't bear having "sister company" (as Floquil was at the time) show up the Home Team. Yep, they discontinued the PollyScale colors in favor of the Acryls...

Since PollyScale went away, I have re-learned how to use Tamiya colors, I have liked the Acryls, and I have adopted a new favorite in the form of Vallejo Model Air. Sure, it isn't PollyScale, but as I have been experimenting and getting used to it, I like the stuff. I've been able to pull off some pretty nice paint jobs--see the Hasegawa F-111F, the pair of Corsairs, and the ER-2 as proof. They make the best, to my mind, acrylic metallic colors, too, as the MiG-21 proves. So, while my winding road through the world of hobby paint has been long and slightly tortured, I think I'm where I need to be.

And this doesn't even scratch the surface of the list of the kit manufacturers we had back in the day. We had Otaki and Nichimo, neither of which are around any more, although Arii picked up the Otaki line for a while--it is now marketed by Micro Ace in Japan. We had Fujimi, kits from whom have only recently started to hit these shores again. We had Life-Like, Inpact, ESCI, SMER, VEB/Plasticart--none of which have survived to today.

And, the latest additions to the list: Monogram and Revell. They were victims of the Hobbico bankruptcy. Hopefully, the new owners of Revell Germany--who now own the entire Revell and Monogram catalog--will re-establish some sort of U.S. branch, but I'm not holding my breath.

On the other hand, due to the efforts of Round 2 Models, the likes of AMT, MPC, Lindberg, Hawk, and Polar Lights...

Perhaps next time, we'll take a look at those manufacturers.

Until then, thanks for reading. Be good to one another, and I bid you Peace.

04/21/2017

With the new job, I've had reason to do some air travel over the past few months. A few observations...

First, I had a trip to the Dallas area in late February. It was my first ride on an Embraer 175/195, and I was surprised. Unlike the older 145, there wasn't the annoying Dutch Roll through the flight, which was good. And, unlike the Baby Jungle Jet, it was 2X2 seating. Which kind of sucks. I liked getting an A seat, which was the best of both worlds--a window seat and an aisle seat. No matter, it was a neat airplane.

About 5 weeks later, I was called to the Phoenix area. I chose to fly Delta, since, well, when you're in the Southeast, it is simply what you do. The flights between Columbia and Atlanta are predictable, with predictable equipment: MD-80's or CRJ's. Now, the MD-80's (MD-88's, usually) aren't too bad--I've flown on them many times. As long as I get an aisle seat (or at least seat on the right side of the airplane in the two abreast row), I'm good. CRJ's, on the other hand, I don't like at all. They're cramped, the windows are too low...and, if you sit over the wing, you know right away when the landing gear either hits the uplock or the pilot selects gear down--it sounds like a gunshot. One of these days, I'll schedule a flight on one of Delta's MD-95's...

The first Atlanta to Phoenix leg was on an Airbus A330. Not having flown on a product of Toulouse, I was surprised at how nice the ride was. It was certainly one of the better flights I've been on, air transport-wise. I'll do it again, too. I liked the fact that even the "Cattle-Class" seats were roomy enough--although the guy next to me didn't understand boundaries, and wanted to try and sit side-saddle--in the four abreast middle row. Those of us on either side of him had to constantly tell him to get back in his seat--the one he paid for, not that one and half of ours, too. I am a big fan of Delta's seatback monitors--I caught the Amy Adams movie "Arrival", which was an interesting movie. I had some time to go, so I started to watch "Office Christmas Party", and yes, it was one of those stupid silly movies. And yes, I enjoyed it.

The return flight was okay, too, but it was on one of Delta's A320's. I can't really complain, but Delta has found a way to install seat-back screens on everything short of the CRJ's. This one? Nope. Not a big deal, as I was fighting a bit of a cold that day. It was probably just as well that I could snooze during the flight.

The first trip was like clockwork up until the last leg between Atlanta and Columbia. But even that wasn't a big deal, we had a maintenance delay that saw us arrive an hour late. However, you would have thought they told us we weren't leaving for a week by the reaction of some of my fellow travelers. More on delays and how unbearable other people can be in a minute.

My most recent trip? Well, I was scheduled to fly on April 6th. If you recall, that was the day Delta had a little bit of a problem with airplanes and crews out of position due to some bad weather. I got the message that my flight was cancelled before I had a chance to take a shower. I went online and called at the same time--and got a message that the call waiting list was up to at least two hours. So, I rebooked online. I tried to rebook for the next day, no dice. I did the next best thing and rebooked for Saturday, April 7th. Surely, things would be better by then...

Well, two things I learned: When you rebook a flight, for some reason you don't get the text alerts. Well, at least I didn't. I got to the airport with plenty of time to spare--which was a good thing--only to find the Columbia to Atlanta flight had once again been cancelled. So, I joined the queue at the Delta ticket counter. Now, maybe my 30 years in the aviation industry has prepared me for things like this, I dunno, but I watched a young lady rip the ticket agent up one side and down the other because of the delay. It wasn't the ticket agent's fault, so I don't know what this lady thought she would get in exchange. She stormed off, and I approached the agent. She took a look at my ticket, and offered a voucher for a taxi from Columbia to Atlanta--which is about a four-hour trip. I had some time to play with, but I had to leave quickly if I was going to make my connection. "Oh, there's a line of taxis waiting outside", I was told. Uh, sure there were. We're talking Saturday of The Master's weekend--Augusta is about 80 miles up I-20. Rental cars and taxis are usually in short supply.

A few Checker Yellow cabs drove up and picked up people in the same boat we were, only they were headed for Charlotte and Charleston. Minivan taxis with one passenger. Not too efficient. But I did call them, and I told them that there were at least ten people who needed to get to Atlanta, and quickly. So, the minivan pulls up--and the driver only wants to take two of us. Not happening. We told him to load the minivan up, which after a call to the dispatcher, he finally did. The ride was uneventful otherwise--given that a bridge on I-85 on the other side of Atlanta had collapsed days earlier, it could have been much worse. We arrived at the Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport at noon, my flight out was scheduled for a 2PM departure.

Now, when I go through the Security Checkpoint, I'm pretty efficient--once I clear the boarding pass/ID check, I put the contents of my pockets into my briefcase or backpack. When I get to the scanner line, I'm pretty quick to pull the laptop out of the briefcase, place it into a tray, grab a second tray for my shoes, belt, cell phone, and toiletry baggie. The briefcase and backpack go on the conveyor, and once it starts into the X-Ray, I approach the scanner. I'm usually in and out on five minutes once I pass the ID check podium. Well, because Atlanta was so backed up, it liked to take forever. Part of the problem was that people still don't understand that your pockets must be empty--hell, one of the TSA agents walks up and down the line and tells you that! Then there are people who want to argue about taking their shoes off. Look, if you don't have a Known Traveler ID, your shoes come off. Don't argue--these people have the authority to make sure you don't fly that day. Do what they tell you. It isn't difficult.

Anyway, clear of the checkpoint, I go looking for a Departure monitor--which Atlanta seems to be short of in the checkpoint area. Sure, there are plenty in the underground areas and gate areas, but I'd like to know which terminal I need to head towards. I finally found one, noted that we were scheduled out of gate A23...and that we were delayed two hours. I'd rather be at the airport than on the way to the airport, and Atlanta's terminals are like shopping malls, so I am more than happy to stooge around the airport while waiting.

Every now and then, I'd check the Departures monitor. Yep, still A23. I grabbed a quick snack--I don't really like flying on a full stomach--and sat down. I checked Facebook, I caught up on my e-mail--personal and work, I caught some of the cabbed TV. And, every 30 minutes or so, I checked the board. About 45 minutes before our departure, a few of us noticed that the Gate Monitor now said "Miami". Hmmm. Check the Departure monitor--the Phoenix flight was still scheduled out of A23. But so was the Miami flight. Three minutes apart. We asked the gate agent. She wasn't sure. This went back and forth for a few minutes until I noticed they had finally changed Phoenix to A24. Right across the way. No big deal. Other than the 4PM departure was now 4:30. I think we finally got boarded and pushed from the gate sometime around 5:15...

The flight was on a 737-900. The last 737 I had flown on was a USAir 737-400. Night and day. My seat was towards the aft cabin, and was a bit bumpy, but nothing too bad. Otherwise, it was a nice flight. I got a chance to see "Rogue One", which was also kind of cool, as I hadn't caught it in the theater. I also watched the first half of "Hacksaw Ridge"--I had seen that one in a theater, so I selected it to fill some time. By the time we got to Phoenix, it was 5:30 local (8:30 on my internal clock)...and I still had to summon an Uber (a new experience for me, but kind of neat), get to the shop, pick up the company truck, and drive to the house. Yep, we leased a house and bought a vehicle, since we reckon we'll be there for a while...

Oh, and air travel aside--that Sunday I truly did catch up on my "Star Wars" movie watching when I caught "The Force Awakens" on one of the movie channels at the house. Interesting film, I see many parallels between it, "A New Hope", and "A Phantom Menace". I've seen all of 'em up until now-even the revised versions--so I'm interested to see how Disney finished the main story as well as how well they do the other stories like "Rogue One". If "Rogue One" is any gauge, they're on the right track...

I spent the week in Phoenix--and if you've never been, you owe yourself a vacation in Arizona. I've been to Tucson once and Phoenix twice, and the weather has been gorgeous on all three trips--I think it rained one night on my first Phoenix trip, otherwise the skies have been blue and clear. I'm figuring that my flight on Friday should be smooth sailing. Right...

The scheduled departure was 10:24. The airplane pulled up to the gate--an ex-Northwest 757-251, the passengers got off the airplane, and the crew followed. Then I see a guy in a reflective vest and the Captain go back aboard. And I notice one or two guys looking under the airplane. Then they opened the main wheel doors. The Captain and the other guy walked back to the gate agent. There was some discussion, and one of the red-vested Delta "Help" agents showed up. I had a suspicion, and it was confirmed when they made the announcement that they had a maintenance discrepancy. The flight would be delayed until 12:30. I heard whispers of a hydraulic issue. Specifically, some hydraulic control module. And then I heard something that told me we weren't leaving at 12:30--"We don't know if we have a part, and we are looking for one now."

About ten minutes later, the "Help" person started handing out those red "Need Help?" cards. Doing the wise thing, I rebooked my connection from Atlanta to Columbia for the last flight out that evening. Surely they could get this airplane fixed and to Atlanta before 10PM EDT...

In an ideal world, that may have happened. But then the announcement went out--4:30PM. And then 7:30PM. When the departure went to 4:30, I called and rebooked my connection for the first flight out of Atlanta--10:30AM. And then I waited. And was once again amazed at what happens to people when things don't go their way. "Get us another plane!" It ain't that easy. Phoenix isn't a Delta hub, and Delta generally doesn't have airplanes sitting around idle. "Work overtime!" Uhh, these folks have 24-hour maintenance crews. "Fly a part in!" Yep, that's what they're doing--from LAX. But they can't snatch a part off the shelf, throw it on an airplane, and leave it to that. There's all sorts of procedures that need to be followed, and they take time.

By about 5PM, the gate area was nearly empty--only the die hards like me who stuck with the original flight. Delta got some pizza and brought out the drink and snack cart for us. I was content to wait--I didn't have to be anywhere right away (sure, I wanted to get home, but I could wait), there were others travelling for the holiday, or Spring Break, or needed to be in the office. Most of them rebooked for the 1:30 and 4:30 flights. Knowing I wasn't getting out of Atlanta until 10AM the following morning meant I was going to spend a lot of time at an airport, and it didn't matter much to me whether I had to wait in Phoenix until 7:30. Did I say 7:30? Yeah, that's what Delta told us, too. Until they slipped it to 9PM. Still, no matter to me...

About that time, another red-vested Delta "Help" agent approached our gate. "Are you all waiting for 1546 to Atlanta?" When a few of us indicated that we were, she called us to the podium. "We need to rebook you--we have no cabin crew." She looked at her computer, and called maintenance control. Sure enough, they had the part, they were ready to install it...and the cabin crew hit their duty time limit. My trip would continue...

We all got rebooked for the Red Eye departing at 11:30. So, I once again found a bit of a snack and a drink, and wandered the terminal for a while. Oh, a hint--Terminal 3 at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport has a Wendy's, a Taberna Del Tequila, a Starbuck's, and a few News outlets. Terminal 4 is where all the action is. Anyway, I stayed in Terminal 3, where I could watch the Frontier flights come and go. I like watching airplanes anyway, so I was good.

About a half hour before we were supposed to board, I noticed a few folks on the 10:24 flight appeared at the new gate. I thought they had rebooked for the earlier flights and were gone, but apparently they sent their afternoon at Taberna Del Tequila. And they apparently had consumed some beer. A lot of beer. There were about a half-dozen of them, and they were all shit-faced, a couple almost falling-down drunk. I was speaking with one of them when another showed up and got boisterous with some of the young ladies sitting around us. They had started to board anyway, so I gathered my gear and slipped away. The interesting part of the boarding process was when these folks checked in--the gate agents were closely watching them. The same thing played out once we boarded--the Flight Attendants were certainly aware that these folks were inebriated. Toe of them were seated in an exit row, and I was amazed that they were allowed to remain there. Fortunately for all of us on the airplane, all of them passed out (literally, I think) soon after we were on our way.

I wanted to catch some sleep on the flight, but my neighbors had other ideas. As soon as the cabin lights went down, their reading lights went on. And stayed on for the entire flight. So, I watched more movies. Or tried to. I would nod off, and then wake up. So, I caught about 40% of "Rogue One" again, before I switched to "Office Christmas Party" to catch the last 30 minutes of it. And then we were in Atlanta. One step closer...

We arrived at around 6AM, so I had some time to kill. I was going to try and find someplace where I could get a sit-down breakfast, but no joy. So, I did what I usually do--find some snacks and a drink. By this time, I'm running on nearly 24 hours with little sleep, and it was all I could do to contain my crankiness/grumpiness and stay awake. Knowing full well that I have a CRJ ride, it took all I could muster...

The flight was uneventful. And fast. We arrived almost 20 minutes early. I met my wife, we headed to the house (stopping at the grocery store on the way), and went to the house. I had some lunch. And I don't remember much else about last Saturday...

But back to one of my observations. I watched more people get nasty with airline representatives that I could count. It wasn't their fault. Weather happens. Airplanes break. Plans get changed. I've learned to roll with the waves--unlike another airline who made the news for another reason last week, all the problems I experienced were typical air travel issues. Screaming at, yelling at, cussing at, and abusing the people behind the counter doesn't make things better. Stay calm. Be patient. Go with the flow...

The other thing I did with my time was people-watch. I ask you, since when is a steamer trunk classified as "carry-on baggage"? I routinely carry a small canvas briefcase and a small backpack when I travel. Those are carry on bags. But I've seen people try to pass off those huge roller bags or huge backpacks as carry on bags. I watch people struggle to stuff their bags into the overhead bins. I know the airlines have caused the problem in part due to their checked bags fees, but people, c'mon. Use some sense...

I'm happy to be home for a few weeks. I'm about traveled our for the time being. I think I've caught up on my sleep, too...

Thanks for reading. Be good to one another, and, as always, I bid you Peace.

10/11/2015

From time to time, I go on the road for work. Sometimes it is to actually work airplanes, sometimes it is for trade shows, and sometimes it is for training. This road trip is for the latter two, and I managed to fit in some sightseeing and visiting while I'm travelling. More on that in a minute...

The Story of The Old Guy

Last week, as I was getting done with the last tests of an air data computer that had been exchanged, I came to a stark realization. Back when I first got out of school and was as helpless as a newborn kitten, I learned the bulk of my trade by doing. And, of course, the first time you get thrown out on the hangar floor and told, "There it is kid, have at it", you start thinking you may have just bitten off more than you can chew. Everything you do takes too long, or isn't working like they told you it should in school, or you screw it up. In my case, I was patient to a point, but got frustrated very quickly--the frustration killed my focus on the job. The frustration coupled with some of the Old Guys on the floor made it worse for me--I'm an introvert, and don't like being criticized in front of God and everyone, all it does is make me even more frustrated. So, invariably when I was on a task new to me, I'd get frustrated and lose my cool.

Usually, what they do next is to send the Old Guy out there to help you, since he usually has been at it longer than anyone else, knows the most, and can fix anything with a small screwdriver and a tie wrap. As you get to work with the Old Guy, you wonder if you'll ever have the same knowledge and abilities as he does--and if you ever do know that much, you wonder where you're going to learn it. See, back in the day, a lot of the Old Guys didn't want to share what they knew. What they knew was their job security. If they let you know what they knew, they lose that job security of being the only guy in the shop who can do that particular task or group of tasks. Personally, I don't subscribe to that train of through for a few reasons--one, I don't want to be 60 years old, fat and arthritic, and crawling around on airplanes. Second, the more people in the organization who know how a certain task is done gives that organization flexibility. If both my technicians can do all the tasks I can, we don't have to rely on one guy to do this and the other guy to do that.

Anyway, I did what everyone has done in the past--I found a guy who was older than I was, but younger than the Old Guy was, tagged along with him, listened, and learned. There was a lot of trial an error, there were times that nothing made sense, there were times that it was frustrating as hell. It came to me, though, slowly. That's why, last week during that seemingly inconsequential air data test, that I realized that I have become the Old Guy in the shop. My guys, though older than I am, come to me for answers to questions that crop up on the airplanes we work. They haven't had as much corporate jet experience as I've had, so they come to me for the answers. And I have learned over the years, too, how to deal with frustration. I no longer allow the airplane to fluster me. Which is good...

Certain tasks that used to fill me with dread are child's play. I no longer have trouble diagnosing pitot-static system or autopilot system problems. Part of it was learned via the sink-or-swim method, part of it through the immersion method, and part of it was through a few good, learned people (other old guys) who weren't afraid to answer my stupid questions or tell me where I went astray. There's a lot to be said for schools, but there's even more merit in the apprentice system. I wish it were better organized in the avionics industry, because it is alive and well...and working.

I went back to my city, and my city was gone...

Do you recall my two-part post where I gave you a tour around Daytona Beach? Well, forget most of what you read...

I stayed in Daytona last night on my way to my training/trade session. I had some time late in the afternoon, so I took a drive. I first took a drive around what the signs say is Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. I recognized three buildings. Out of about two dozen. I could barely navigate the campus. Nothing was the same as it was thirty-some years ago except the University Center and two original dorms--at least that I could see. I know time marches on, and progress needs to be made, but as I drove around campus, I began to recollect those six years I spent there and was again made pain fully aware than I am, officially, The Old Guy.

Then I took a ride around town. The Speedway is in the closing stages of their renovation and the completion of the Daytona Rising project--the whole look of the speedway from U.S. 92 is completely different. The Holiday Inn (later Ramada Inn) across from Turn 4 is gone--replaced by a Bahama Breeze, IHoP, Olive Garden, and Cheddar's. I wondered about that, because the Olive Garden is next to the Hampton Inn...er, was next to the Hampton. That property is under construction--the sign says a Houligan's is moving in.

The look of Beach Street hasn't changed, but the shops out there sure have. Dunn Hardware and Dunn Toys and Hobbies are long gone, but so are some of the older Mom and Pop shops, too. Stavro's Pizza is still hanging in there, though...

Another Daytona Beach constant is still hanging in there, too--the Streamline Hotel, long little more than a flophouse, is being renovated and restored as is fitting the birthplace of NA$CAR. I was glad to see they hadn't plowed the old place down in the name of progress.

The rest of the beachfront is depressing--it is becoming more and more another coastal concrete canyon, much the same as Miami Beach. But I did stop in at the Oyster Pub for supper--much the same as I remember it, I must say, and well worth the visit. That is one of two watering holes from back in the day (Razzle's being the other, fans!) still open and looking much as they did back in the day.

Without family, what do you have?

I got a chance to spend a few hours with my brother and sister-in-law this afternoon on my way through O-Town on my way to Tampa. I hadn't seen either one on a year, and wish I had a few days to spend catching up with them. Alas, I had to get on down the road, but we will have to get together again soon...

Planning for both the 2016 AMPS International Convention and the 2016 IPMS/USA National Convention is going smoothly. Both shows will be First Rate, and I hope to see you all at one or both. I'm the seminars coordinator for the IPMS Show, and I do believe you'll like the slate of speakers we've put together. If you are interested in hosting a Seminar for either show, please contact me through the Seminars link on the 2016 IPMS/USA Nationals site.

With the Big Shows coming up quickly, you need to get your models ready...

Thanks for reading. Be good to one another, and, as always, I bid you Peace.

03/08/2014

Now, before you get all excited and start running about, I'm not referring to George Orwell's vision. Rather, I'm looking back 30 years and remembering some of the things that made 1984 a sort of comeback year for me...

For starters, I found myself unemployed and not in school for the first time in my life on New Year's Day in 1984. I had taken my leave from the Harvard of the Sky--engineering physics and I didn't get along, especially when physics had backup on the beat-down in the form of Calculus 3. Between those two courses, I had a dismal GPA for the Fall 1983 semester and decided that engineering as a career for me wasn't in the cards. I went down to the AFROTC Detachment (I had an AFROTC Scholarship at the time) and spoke a bit with my advisor. He and I talked for about an hour, and both came to the conclusion that all the summer terms in the world weren't going to suddenly make me a mathematical genius. My math skills were pretty good, but not good enough. So, I didn't register for spring semester and came home.

Funny how things can happen--I went looking for a job on 2 January 1984 and was hired almost immediately as a parts driver for a local HVAC parts house. After a week or so of that, one of their systems engineers found out that I wasn't just doing this because I didn't know any better, and I would sometimes be called in to watch how home and industrial HVAC systems are engineered--so many square feet of space called for so many tons of capacity, so many BTUs were required to heat X amount of space, etc. It was all pretty neat stuff, and I appreciated all they were doing for me. Between parts runs, I learned quite a bit--and was tempted to pursue a career in that. But aviation, once it wiggles down into your blood, tends to have a strong pull...

I worked there all summer. One day I got a phone call from one of my advisors at Embry-Riddle, wanting to know what I was doing and what my plans were. At the time, I was still trying to just chill out a bit and leave the stress and, well, disappointment of engineering behind me (and earn some coin, but that should be obvious). I let them know what I was up to, and that I had several things banging around in my head, and that I'd let them know when the time came. That time came in June--I took a Friday off work and drove back to Daytona Beach. I met with some folks, and found out how easy it would be for me to come back--I never formally withdrew from the school, so I was still carried on their rolls. I first visited my AFROTC friends. We spent a few hours speaking with some of the other Department Chairmen, and after speaking with the man heading up the Avionics program, my mind was made up. I would return in August.

With my future now decided, I went back to work. I don't say this to be self-congratulatory, but I was the hardest working parts driver/stock man/all around helper that location had. I know this because the higher-ups told me so. They were especially let down when I gave them my notice, but when I told them that my two choices were to learn--unofficially--from them, or go back to school and learn aviation electronics, I think it got them to understand. I was told that if I needed summer work, they would be there. So, I ended my employment with them in mid-August.

Remember that 1984 was an Olympic Games year, too--back when Winter and Summer games were held in the same year, no less. The Winter games were held in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. I paid little attention to them, because work and the time difference made keeping track of the events a bit difficult. What saddens me know is to see what has become of the venues built for the Games--most of them are crumbling, the result of the unrest, fighting, and other issues between the ethnic factions that finally led to the break-up of Yugoslavia into its constituent Republics. Sad...

The Summer games, on the other hand, were different--they were held in Los Angeles in 1984. The overshadowing news was that the Soviet Union, acting in response to the West's boycott of the 1908 Games, had decided to sit 1984 out. They, along with the majority of Eastern Bloc countries, sat at home while the Games went on. The reason I remember it so well was than coverage of most events came on right as I was getting back to the house after work, so I could pay attention to all of them. It was the last Olympic Summer games that I really paid close attention to. Since then, various reasons have kept me from watching...

On the modeling front, I actually started to keep a log of kits I completed. The first for 1984 was the ESCI 1/48 scale Fieseler Storch. It was an easy build until I got to the part about sticking the wings to the greenhouse. I used 5-minute epoxy, and got a fairly decent result--I amazed myself that I didn't wind up with epoxy all over everything!

I next turned my attention to a Tamiya 1/48 Brewster Buffalo. It was probably the quickest "serious" model I had built to that point--everything just clicked together. I was tempted by the early Navy scheme, but I settled on the Dutch scheme, because my metal finish techniques were sorely lacking and I didn't want to ruin the model. My impressions of Tamiya airplane kits would be reinforced soon...

Next on the hit parade was the Nichimo 1/48 scale Ki-43 Oscar. If you read opinions on this kit, they're all almost universally positive. And for good reason--the kit packs a lot of detail into a small airplane, the fit is superlative, and this all in a kit dating from the late 1970's. I tried some weathering techniques on this one--I used a silver Tamiya paint marker to prime seams back then, and I would paint the seams and rub the excess paint off with a paper towel. I reconed that if I added blotches of silver here and there, I could "chip" the Polly S paints I was using for the camouflage. It worked out fairly well, I think, and I kept trying to expand my horizons from that model on to the next, and the next...

This was also the summer when I attempted to build Monogram's 1/48 scale F-84F. For a reason or reasons lost to history, I cannot recall why I never finished the model. All I have from that model is the dolly and a few bits and pieces. After that, I wound up building Monogram's 1/48 scale F-100D in Arkansas ANG colors. I did that because, as I said before, my metal finishes at the time looked like dog poop...

Last for the summer, I decided to refinish a Monogram 1/48 scale B-17G that I had built in the late 1970's, maybe 1979. I had airbrushed it, but it was one of my first airbrushed models and looked the part. There were visible seams and some other issues with the model, so I took it down from the shelf and started working on the bad areas. Within a week, it was ready for paint again. I had used a Microscale sheet to finish the F-100 and was suitably impressed--first time using them, you know. So, I went in search of a sheet for the B-17. I found one I liked (unit and aircraft are again lost to history--I didn't log how they were finished, just that I finished them) and set to work. I used a combination of Polly S and Tamiya acrylics for the finish, and this one was the best, to that point, airbrushed finish I had ever laid down. The model went back on the shelf, an old girl in a new dress.

(That Tamiya Buffalo would also get a re-work in the early 1990's--which is how it still resides, hidden away in a box upstairs...)

I returned to good old Humpty Diddle in August. I had to register for classes. I had remembered to change my major and catalog at the Registrar's office when I was there in June, so half my battle had been won. Then I get to the registration lines. I think it is a universal college policy that beginning of the semester registration is meant to be as huge a pain in the ass as possible to all involved. See, during my engineering days, I had to re-take a few courses. As far as the Aeronautical Studies/Aeronautics courses were concerned, I was through with all of my math classes by virture of my Calculus I and Calculus II courses. During those engineering semesters, I had managed to complete all but maybe one or two Humanities/History courses, too. I was only looking to register for the required Physics and first semester Aero Studies courses. I couldn't get into any of the Electronics courses since all the sections were filled, so I settled for what I could get. After I got through that, I had to go play housing lottery. After about two hours of back-and-forth, I managed to get into Residence Hall 2, aka Dorm 2, aka "The Embry-Riddle Holiday Inn". I had lived here through my engineering days, so I know what to expect. I met the roommates and suitemates (two rooms to a suite, three people to a room), all of whom were Aero Science guys (they were all working towards pilot certificates)--except one. He was in engineering. He was a quiet kid, and engineering wasn't any kinder to him than it was me. I kinda felt sorry for the kid...after all, I'm now the older, wiser me...

Classes were literally a breeze. By the end of that semester, I would have all my prerequisite courses behind me and the next three and a half years would be solid electronics and avionics courses, along with the Aero Studies courses. See, there was no single avionics major, you took a major and added avionics. You could take an Aviation Maintenance major and avionics (you wound up with an Airfram and Powerplant certificate and the avionics degree) or Aeronautical Studies with avionics, which is how I went. Basically, you took all the ground school courses for flight, but no flight courses. So, I learned basic aerial navigation and meteorology to go along with my electron theory. Over the years, the school changed how they treated avionics until finally phasing it out a few years ago in favor of an Electronic Engineering degree program...

More modeling? You bet--I had spare time, so I decided to build a Tamiya 1/48 A6M2. This was another fall together kit, it was done in a week. Yep, a week. Needing something else to occupy my time, and figuring that the ESCI Storch was a cool kit, so I decided to build ESCI's 1/48 scale Hs-123. Now that one was a challenge--first serious biplane, first masked camouflage scheme with Polly S, and the kit was rife with minor warpage--typical of ESCI's kits of that era. Well, I managed to beat it into submission, and painted it up as a Spanish Civil War machine. I may still have it in a box here somewhere, too, and I was sure to pick up the AMTech "enhanced" reissue of the kit a few years ago. After all, who else is likely to do an Hs-123 in 1/48 scale?

The best part of the year? Going back to school. I never had any intention of *not* going back to school--my father wouldn't abide it. He was always pushing for education-I guess it stems from the fact that he had a GED when he started working, and worked hard in correspondence classes to earn a degree. Dad was a self made man, and he did so through hard work and trying to better himself. I was thinking about these "good old days", and once again realized what my parents did to make sure my brother and I were ready to face the cold, cruel world--the sacrifices they made to put us both through post-secondary education, the hard work they put in to keep a roof over our heads, food on the table, and lights on in the house. So, by going back to school--even though I wasn't overtly pushed--I was doing as they wanted.

On reflection, maybe I should have worked for a year after high school, then gone to college. Maybe I should have examined engineering closer and realized that it was a bit beyond my abilities. You can reach for the brass ring, and if you grab it on the first try, great. I seem to reach for the ring, get a light grip on it, and then lose that slight grasp. Rather than giving up, I'll take a breather and try again. I usually grab that sucker for all I'm worth on the second go around, and once I have it in my grasp I never let go--I seem to cherish it more when I do that. It has worked for me my entire life...

Oh, yeah. The Apple Macintosh also goes on sale in 1984, Constatin Chernenko succeeds Yuri Andropov as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Pierre Trudeau steps down as the Canadian Prime Minister, and Marvin Gaye's father shoots and kills the singer.

Musically, Van Halen released their "1984" album, giving us "Panama", "Hot For Teacher", "I'll Wait", and "Jump". Duran Duran were touring, suppoting "Seven and the Ragged Tiger", which gave us "The Reflex", "Union of the Snake", and "New Moon on Monday". Meanwhile, Prince and the Revolution topped the Billboard Top 100 with "When Doves Cry". What was #100? "Yah Mo Be There", by James Ingram and Michael McDonald...

(I can't poke too much fun--my beloved Jethro Tull released "Under Wraps". Not one of their best albums ever. By far. Even Tull's then-bassist Dave Pegg said the songs cut from 1983's "Broadsword and the Beast" would have made a better album. Trivia time--it was the only Tull album with no live drummer--drum machines were used instead. Doane Perry would be hired shortly after this album and was their full-time drummer until 2011. He still occasionally tours with them.)

The big news items in the United States for 1984, though, were generated by President Ronald Reagan. In August, during a sound check for a radio broadcast, he says "My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes". He alos is re-elected (with George H. W. Bush as his Vice President) in a landslide victory in November, beating Democrats Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro, carrying 49 states and 59% of the popular vote.

Oh, and as an aside: When you get an ROTC scholarship, you are basically sworn in as enlisted personnel. Because I vacated my AFROTC scholarship, a Review Board convened. It was decided that I wasn't vacating the scholarship for any reason other than it would be a waste of money to have me keep banging my head against a wall as an egineering student. For my troubles, I received a package from the United States Air Force sometime in April. Now, some fellow scholarship recipients were receiving orders to attend basic training at Lackland AFB, Texas. I was slightly concerend until I opened the envelope. I was granted an Honorable Discharge from the United States Air Force. As an Airman Basic. No orders. One of my roommates at the time wasn't as lucky--his orders appeared a week after he got home in December, 1983. He showed the Air Force, though--he went down and joined the Army before the Air Force caught up with him. Many who knew this guy swore he joined the army only so he could get a good, up close look at an M1 Abrams tank so he could build a superdetailed model of one...

I hope this finds all of you in good health. Thanks for reading, and be good to one another. I bid you Peace.

11/02/2013

Need I say why I've been absent? I didn't think so...but I will tell you that we're overflowing at work, and we're trying to swing a deal for more work space.

I have noticed more military activity lately, though. The past several months have seen visits by Army Kiowa Warriors, Blackhawks, a few Apaches, at least one Chinook, several USMC Cobras and Hueys, and several USMC V-22 flybys. It has kept things interesting...

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On the model front, I'm still doing massive research (when I have the chance) on the Italian campaign of World War The Second. See, I have this StuG IV that wants to be a 190th Pz.Abt. vehicle of the 90th Panzergrenadier Division in Italy. Well, therein lies the rub--the 90th was more or less a reserve division that was divided up piecemeal and sent wherever Kesselring needed them. Funny, since my research so far shows them as being the only Panzergrenadier Division to be completely equipped with StuG IV's (the others fielded a mix of StuG III, StuG IV, and other varieties of SPs and light armor). Well, some of my references say they were present during the Anzio breakout. SOme refs show them at Monte Cassino. Others show them on the eastern side of the Appenines. So, what to do...

I think I'm going to simply build it, mark it, and put it on a generic "Italian countryside" base and call it good. For now. I will probably include at least one figure as a scale yardstick, but that will probably be as far as I'll take this one.

Meanwhile, I'm frustrating myself with poached eggs--the WWII Italian air force variety, that seemingly simple camouflage scheme of a green base with sand yellow spots with a small red-brown spot in the middle. Yep, the Macchi 200 has finally hit the paint shop. I've been going back and forth on the painting every time I get five spare minutes, and I hope to soon have something acceptable to post for all to ogle. Until then, I keep working at it...

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At the same time, the local shop is having a kit sale, so I've been availing myself of more future SIDNA. I mean, how many Tamiya Storch kits does one need? Ahhh, but when one finds that kit for $30, why not buy a second copy? I've also picked up a few kits that I've wanted for a while, but the price put me off--Moebius' Moon Bus kit, for one. I had an Aurora Moon Bus, but sold it years ago. I was happy to see Moebius re-engineer it, but when it came out at $50, well, I could wait. But the same kit for $20? Sold, American. Same for the FineMolds 1/48 scale X-Wing fighter, the most expensive (at MSRP $99) Snap-Tite kit I've seen. While still a bit steep, the $40 price tag was more to my liking...

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We did have a chance to get to the annual Atlanta airliner collectibles show. Delta has unveiled their plans of the museum, and I have to say that they are not planning on anything but top-drawer for the renovation/expansion. It will be interesting to see it once it is done--Delta says the new museum will be open for business in May, 2014.

At said airliners show, I picked up a Revell 1/115 P-3A Orion kit with a 1964 copyright date. This issue hails from the day when Revell had box art wraps rather than printed box tops. I was surprised to see that the contents were still in fabulous shape, given the age of the kit. I've toyed with various build scenarios in my head: converting it back to an Electra (not likely, since I have Minicraft wings and Welsh fuselages for that), bringing it up to P-3C standards (again, not likely, especially since I got another Arii 1/144 P-3C from the same vendor), or simply doing one of the early white-over Engine Gray schemes, which I really like. We'll see...

I also snagged another orphan ATP 1/144 Convair 340 kit. This one is the radar nose kit with North Central decals. The kit itself in interesting--the fuselage is cast in Polyurethane foam, with some injection-molded parts (props, landing gear) included. A superdetailed kit it most certainly is not, but it is a 1/144 scale Convair-liner. Why the bigs have missed making kits of the Convair-liners (and the Martinliners--the 2-0-2 and 4-0-4) is still a mystery to me.

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Speaking of orphan airliners, I have laid eyes on the new Roden 1/144 Boeing 720 kit. Yes, if you've read the rest of the Interwebs, you know the engine nacelles are oversized. But the aftermarket is coming to the rescue with that issue. The rest of the kit? Nice. Not perfect, but a much easier path to Boeing's first "short haul" airliner than trying to cut and paste a Revell 720/707/KC-135 kit, for sure...

Well, that's all I can think of for now. Hopefully nest time I'll have a few Macchi photos, and maybe some other stuff to share.

Thanks for reading. As always, be good to one another and I bid you Peace.

02/02/2013

See, its like this: I finally had enough time to collect my meager thoughts. The new car was running nicely (and still is), work was humming along, the family stuff was on an even keel...

I even got to take a vacation. What happened after that? See the title to this post...

We're a small shop at work--we do with five or six technicians what other shops won't touch unless they have at least ten people available to work the job. We schedule things pretty tight, too--remember what I've said in the past about the empty hangar not making us any money? With things packed nose to tail, everything has to pretty much run like a Rolex (by the way, did you see the Rolex 24? More later...) or the whole schedule turns into a logjam. Yep. You guessed it. Unforeseen problems with parts, unexpected findings, and some aircraft sales issues clogged the pipeline a bit. As a result, we're trying to unburden ourselves from said pile of airplanes. We have two in the hangar, two on the ramp, and two stashed in various hangars around the airport to keep them out of any inclement weather that might move in. And, get this--we have two more on the way early next week. So it kinda goes without saying that we're working overtime. Lots of overtime. As in seven day a week overtime. The money's good, yes, but you have to be alive to enjoy it. Fortunately, we're on schedule to deliver one by the close of business Monday, and another a day or so after that. But we're still up to our eyeballs in aviation fun...

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To add to the array of spinning plates, my mother is again in poor health. She was improving when we saw her in December, then she suffered a pretty significant setback, one which the family is dealing with. Lots of issues there, not least of which is I'm going to have to carve away some time to visit. Or clone myself. Or both.

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All isn't gloom and doom, though. I have actually tried to get back to the workbench and get some stuff done. I broke my vow of not starting anything new until the backlog was done and started on the new Airfix 1/72 scale Folland Gnat T.1. It has been a relatively quick build, and I hope to be able to get some color onto the model shortly. There were a few minor issues. The fit of the wing to the fuselage can be tricky--be careful once you get everything ready for the glue. If you don't get a good, tight fit where the wings meet the inlets, work on it before you get out the glue brush--if you don't, you'll wind up with a slight gap that could set your wing askew. I'm speaking from experience, here. Also, watch the part numbers when you build the slipper tanks--I didn't and got the left top on the right bottom and vice-versa. By the time I noticed, the tanks were permanently fused. I had to trim and shim to get them to fit. I hope that those of you reading this take heed and learn from my ignorance.

I'm gonna build this one up using the kit decals. I figured it would be a good slump-buster, and I was right--were it not for all the overtime and other things, I'd have it finished by now.

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Other things, you ask? Well, in addition to the family stuff, the court date for the guy who caused the accident in November came up a few weeks ago. I think I told you all at some point that the man is 82-years old. Well, when I saw him enter the courtroom, it reinforced what I had been thinking--he's indeed 82, has two hearing aids, two canes, and glasses with lenses thicker than any I've seen on a pair of glasses. How this man--a fine man, I'm sure--can hold a driver's license evades me.

Anyway, he wanted to speak with the judge. The way traffic court works in South Carolina starts with your ticket. If you pay it and take the points, your case is removed from the docket. You also have the option of holding the court date and speaking with the law enforcement officer who cited you. At that point, the two parties usually work out what amounts to a plea agreement with reduced fine, you pay the fine and take the reduced points, the case gets closed, and all is right with the world. If you either don't want to speak with the LEO or don't like what he or she is telling you, you appear before the judge. This session was to start at 10AM. The trooper was in a jury trial and was not going to be able to appear until just before the judge was ready to take the bench. By the time the trooper showed, there were about five minutes left before the judge entered the court. An interesting conversation took place:

"I want to talk to the judge. I want my ticket throwed out."

"Sir, I doubt the judge will do that, especially since there are several witnesses to the case present in the courtroom today."

"I wasn't speedin'. There was other cars passin' me like I was on flypaper."

"Sir, you weren't cited for speeding. You were cited for driving too fast for conditions."

"But them folks wuz speeding!"

"Sir, I run traffic stops there all the time. I understand what you're saying, but I didn't cite you for speeding. We weren't running a speed stop that day, and while they may have been exceeding the speed limit, that's not what you got the ticket for. Traffic was stopped, and by your actions, you damaged seven vehicles."

This went on for a while. Then, he changes the subject:

"My van was totaled! They gots to get one of them lit signs warning about congestion or sumpin' on the road. I've been driving for seventy two years, and ain't never had anythin' like this..."

"Sir, I understand you vehicle was totaled--so were three others. As for the signs, the judge here can't help you. All he will want to hear from you is guilty or not guilty of the charge of driving too fast for conditions."

He pressed that issue for several minutes. Then, another quick sidestep:

"My brakes musta failed or my foot musta slipped."

"Sir, we tested your van's brakes--even with all the damage, the system was intact and you had a firm pedal. But that's also something the judge isn't interested in..."

The trooper had to explain this to the man at least three times before he switched tracks again:

"The hospital cut me loose and I wuz still hurtin'!"

"Sir, You'll need to take that up with the hospital. This judge won't rule on that. All he wants to hear is guilty or not guilty to the charge."

Then the guy's wife starts chiming in:

"Can't you reduce the fine?"

Ma'am, the fine is $81.88 and two points, the lowest traffic fine we are allowed to levy on this charge. The judge will not reduce the fine lower than that."

"You really think not? My husband's a Veteran and everthin'."

"Ma'am, even if the judge thought your husband was the finest man he'd ever met, he can't, by law, reduce the fine. He could be a Saint, and the law still applies."

Finally, the couple decide that maybe it is best to pay their fine, take the points, and move on. Much to my delight and to the delight of the other witness. Of course, by the time they decided this, the judge entered the courtroom. We did the polite thing and sat until the trooper and judge dismissed us.

There's several hours of my life I'm never gonna see again. But if he made his appearance with no witnesses present, the case would have likely been dismissed. So, I did my good deed for the day, and got a few hours away from work on top of it all. Sometimes life is like that...

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During one of the lulls in the action, my wife and I paid a visit to one of the smaller hobby shops in the area, one that we hadn't been to in quite a while. When I say small, I mean it in size, mainly--what the shop lacks in size is usually offset by some of the stuff held within it's walls. We poked through the stacks, and I noted that the owner must have bought parts of a collection. One man's trash (or SIDNA) is another man's treasure (or future SIDNA, depending on how the stars align): I snagged a Fujimi 1/72 scale HSS-2B Sea King in JASDF markings for $12 and a Hasegawa 1/72 scale F-111F for about $20 and some change. Not bad, considering Hasegawa is pricing the kits of the Pig that they do re-release at nearly double that. I also noticed some HO scale/gauge Proto2000 Atlantic Coast and Florida East Coast locomotives priced nicely--I didn't get them yet, but will soon do so. It pays to shop local, doesn't it?

The Fujimi Sea King is a nice kit that can be difficult to find. It had most of the detail differences included (sponsons, short and long horizontal stabilizer, ice shield) in the box. I'd like to have some fun and maybe build this one as one of the CH-3B's that the U. S. Air Force used to resupply the Texas Tower radar sites or to recover drones. Eventually, I will build a Navy version or three, but the Air Force titles on an engine gray and orange helo intrigue me...

As for the -111, I may again break my vow in order to do something I've meant to do for years. Stay tuned.

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On our trip to Florida, we stopped by the usual haunts and came up with a few hits. I bought the wife a copy of the new Kinetic T-45 Goshawk. It is a nice kit--she has already finished the model, and it looks quite nice. I also managed to snag a Revell Germany issue of the 1/72 scale MPM A-20G kit. Just as nice at half the price. Really.

She found one of the new Academy 1/48 scale F-4B Phantom II kits, which she promptly wrapped and gave to me on Christmas. Personally, I think it is a superb kit regardless of the hubbub on the 'net. Mine is destined to wear the Top Hat of VF-14...

She also was directed towards a Zvesda 747-8 kit that I had spied for an oh-so-nice price. So she's got that going for her...

Before we left on the trip, she had pre-ordered a couple of the new Meng 1/72 scale F-102A kits. All I can say is that if you are a Century Series fan, get one. Or two. Or a half-dozen. Yes, they are that nice...

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The 51st running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona is history. Scott Pruett won for the fifth time, tying Hurley Haywood in the most wins in "Daytona's twice 'round the clock classic" department. Let's say that I'm not Scott's biggest fan, but I do appreciate the achievement. Winning once is a lifetime goal of so many people, so to win it five times is truly remarkable. And I'm glad that Charlie Kimball was on the team for this race--Charlie races in the IndyCar series even though he has Type 1 diabetes--he carries a Novo Nordic FlexPen in the car with him, and he's done quite well for himself on the track. He's also a nice guy, and I'm happy that he now can say he was on a winning team in Daytona. Wayne Taylor Racing and their new partner Velocity Worldwide was on the second step of the podium this year. The BMW's were the class of the field, so Wayne's Corvette DP just didn't have the muscle to keep pace, even with Max Angelelli, Ryan Hunter-Reay, and Wayne's son Jordan sharing the duty. Last year's winner, Michael Shank Racing's #60 car, finished third but was later fined and stripped of all the winnings and most of the points because of a rules infraction. Part of the fines go to Camp Boggy Creek...

In the GT ranks, Audi and Ferrari came to play, and play they did. Audi Sport/AJR took first, AudiSport/APR took second, and AIM Autosport/FXDD took theird in their Ferrari 458. And, the new GX class had mixed results--the three top finishers were all Porsche Caymans. Three Mazda6 GX entries met with misfortune early on, all of them dropping out due to engine and mechanical problems after 50 laps.

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So there you are. We covered a lot of ground this time--some work woes, some family woes, some interesting disorder in the court, some plastic tales, and some racing. I hope that holds you for a while.

And I hope to be back sooner. Can't make any promises, but I'll do my best to fill your head with useless trivia, questionable knowledge, and goofy tales from back in the day.

Until then, thanks for reading. Be good to one another, and I bid you Peace.

09/22/2012

Yep, I'm back...need I tell you that I've been busy and life has become hectic yet again?

So, what does one do when one needs to make a post to let everyone know one is still alive? Well, let's start with another one of those *$m@ airplane stories...this time, I'm going to tell you about my brief acquaintance with Douglas AD-4NA, U. S. Navy Bureau Number (BuNo)126882, N91945, replete (at the time) in VA-176 "Papoose Flight" colors...

If you were an airplane geek and lived anywhere in the coastal region of Central Florida in the 1980's, you knew of two important facts: The Valiant Air Command had formed in Titusville and had airshows every Spring, and a man named Harry Doan was a Colonel in the organization. I first learned of both when, driving around Daytona Beach, I spied a large, fenced lot off Big Tree Lane--and contained within that large, fenced lot were carcasses of H-34's. Lots of H-34's. The sign on the fence said "Valiant Air Command--Big Tree Division". The man who owned the lot was, of course, Harry Doan, and Harry had a helicopter service--hence the many H-34's, I believe he used them for spare parts. I never got to meet Harry, so I have to go on what I was told at the time. His main facility was at the New Smyrna Beach airport, and along with said helicopter service, he also re-built and flew warbirds. The first of Harry's airplanes I ever saw was a Hawker Sea Fury--but he didn't call it that. His was a "SkyFury". See, Harry knew that the original Bristol Centaurus sleeve-valve radial engine was A: temperamental and 2: hard to source parts for. So, being the wily old airplane guy he was, he removed the Centaurus and installed a Wright R-3350 he had removed from a Douglas AD Skyraider. They were about the same size and weight, so I guess the swap was fairly straightforward. I saw the airplane fly at several airshows, and it was quite a sight. Later on (2006), I got to see an honest-to-goodness Sea Fury fly, too, and the sensory experience was day to night different--the 3350 sounds like many U. S. built radials, it has a distinct sound. Well, so does the Centaurus...

Anyway, back to the story at hand...after I had graduates from The Harvard of the Sky, I went to work in Ft. Lauderdale. My roommate had graduated the semester after I had, and he went to work for the space program and had also started to do some work for the VAC. He reminded me of the airshow, and I would go every year to watch the hardware take flight, and to see what he was working on at that particular time (the first airplane he worked was a total rebuild of an F4U Corsair that would be assembled from at least two wrecks--a -4 and a -7--and many more fabricated parts and to the best of my knowledge was never finished; the last one I knew he was working on was an Avro Anson that I believe still sits in the VAC hangar/museum, also waiting to be restored to this day). It was an annual ritual, of sorts--I'd drive up on Friday, we'd go to the show on Saturday, and I'd be home by Sunday afternoon.

The 1992 VAC Warbird Airshow started nicely enough, and it looked like we'd get to see some unusual hardware take flight--someone had brought a fairly freshly restored Canadair Sabre (a Canadian built F-86F), a group known as "The Georgia Boys" had not only a T-37, but also a C-119, a group of folks had rescued a C-123 from Customs impound in Ft. Lauderdale and had it ready to fly, and Harry had his Skyraider there. Our friend Bill Noriega was on the Air Boss scaffold, as he was every year. We walked the flight line, looked at the airplanes on display, then moved over to the viewing area. We stuck close to Bill, since he could tell us what was up next.

A group of T-6's and T-28's did their thing overhead. At the same time, a group of airplanes--including the Skyraider, but I can't recall to this day what else was with it--waited their turn and the Sabre was in the process of spooling up, too. As the Texans and Trojans landed, the next group took flight. They marked time as the previous airplanes landed and as the Sabre took off. Once the runway was clear, the Skyraider led their flight over show center. They zoomed and looped overhead until their time came to return to the Earth. As the Sabre took center stage, we noted a huge could of dust at the departure end of the runway. We looked up the tower to Bill, and he told us to hang close--something had happened to the AD, and he wasn't sure what. As the Sabre wheeled in the blue sky, something darker was beginning to unfold...

At the time, few were aware of what happened, but they knew something was going on when the next group of airplanes to fly sat in the display area, idling. After a few minutes, they were told to shut down. At that moment the airshow effectively ended. The Sabre landed on the intersecting runway, taxied to a taxiway across the airport, and shut down.

Bill tossed a hand-held radio to us and told up to stay on frequency--he had requested the Fire Rescue squad to go take care of the situation. We were told that the Skyraider landed hot and long, and had flipped on it's back when it overran the runway threshold and hit a sand berm. We did as we were told--we listened and waited. Word slowly got back to us that yes, the airplane was upside-down. Then we got word that they were trying to get Harry out. Finally, we got the word that Harry had died. (The accident was noted by the Daytona Beach News-Journal on the following Tuesday--scroll to page 21 of this link...)

The next morning, Bill and a few of us went to the end of the runway to get the airplane upright and to the VAC hangar. That was a trip I never really want to take again...

Aviation is a small world. Several years later, I got to actually work on the same airplane when Denny Sherman of Sherman Aircraft Sales brought it to us for an intercom installation. I looked it over, and couldn't believe it was the same airplane. I later gave Denny a model in the same markings that I had built from a Monogram kit earlier that year, a model I built to honor Harry, a man I never knew but wished I had. Men like that have colorful histories, and more of them are leaving us every day.

Bill Noriega is also gone, from lung cancer. He passed about ten years ago, and I recall with great amusement those times when a group of us would descend uopn the Who-Song and Larry's Ft. Lauderdale location, where the server was told "Give us a couple orders of shrimp stuffed hollowpenises (Bill's phrase for jalapeños) and a couple buckets of beers. We'll let you know when we're ready for seconds..."

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Speaking of colorful men who are no longer with us, my uncle, a WWII Marine who saw action on Okinawa, left us last week. I build a few models for him about ten years ago:

A Tamiya 1/48 scale F4U-1D. Uncle Ted would tell me stories about his ride in a Corsair--he sat in the seat pan and the pilot sat on his lap...

An Accurate Miniatures 1/48 scale SBD-5 Dauntless. Uncle Ted rode in the back set of these many times, but not as aircrew. He'd go on short hops just to ride...

And, finally, an Accurate Miniatures 1/48 scale TBM-3 Avenger, just because. The Avenger and Corsair bases are scratchbuilt carrier decks made from basswood and plastic strips. The Dauntless base is HO scale ballast painted to depict a crushed coral parking area. Pardon the quality, these photos were taken ten years or so ago with equipment of the era...

Uncle Ted, we miss you already, but we know you're home again. Semper Fi!

First, a story by one of the passengers aboard on that last, ill-fated trip. And, finally, a brief history of the CIA PBY's.

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As far as plastic goes, I haven't done a whole lot--except acquire kits. Today's purchase was the 1/35 scale Hobby Boss rendition of the IDF's Merkava IIID. From what I've read, it compares favorably to the Meng kit of the same subject, and it would appear that Hobby Boss corrected the suspension goof of their Merkava IV. I also was influenced to buy Italeri's 1/35 Carro Armato M13/40 Italian medium tank--our fearless leader at the AMPS Chapter is busily kitbashing a proper M13/40 with the Italeri kit (which is actually a pretty accurate M14/41) and Tamiya's M13/40 (which, he tells me, isn't the most dimensionally accurate thing out there). I'm slowly plugging away on the StuG IV as well, so as I get spare time, I should be able to complete another kit or three. It seems that I'll go for weeks without touching plastic to weeks where I'm popping them out in quick succession. Maybe that stems from my pledge to clear the backlog before I start anything new...

Thanks for reading. Be good to one another, and as always, I bid you Peace.

10/05/2011

By way of a minor miracle, my wife managed to save the "lost" photos from the rogue SD card. So, on to the photos--these were taken in the Colorado National Monument near Grand Junction, Colorado, and I highly recommend a visit there. You won't be sorry...

This is Mount Garfield (Elevation 6,600 feet ASL) from the hotel window--I understand that a hike up there is quite the workout...at that altitude, your body absorbs roughly 14-17% of the oxygen in the atmosphere. At sea level, the rate is around 22%...

Again from the hotel room, this is a not-great shot of the Grand Mesa. Elevation on top is 10,500 feet Above Sea Level. It is an extinct volcano, and there are numerous lakes on top full of trout, waiting for the fly--or so I was told.

The Grand Mesa at sunset.

We saw quite a few houses tucked into the side of the cliffs, this being one example.

From the road that winds through the Monument park looking across to Mount Garfield and the Grand Mesa. It was a wee bit hazy that day, as you can see...earlier, though, it was crystal clear--something to remember for next time.

Alkali salts are constantly squeezed out of the ground--that's the white powder on the side of the cliff.

This is called Balanced Rock. There are so many different rock formations and obelisks that you get a sore neck trying to see all of them.

Grand Junction is high desert, and you are reminded of that--look at this gnarly, weathered tree. Right next to it, though, was a patch of cacti...

Independence Monument.There were climbers on the Monument the day we saw it.

A little bit of the Colorado River. Grand Junction gets its name because the Colorado River and Gunnison River join nearby--so why "Grand" Junction? Well, before 1921, the upper reaches of the Colorado River were known as the Grand River. So now you know--go use that tidbit to amaze all your friends!

Just for fun--One of our Bombardier Challenger technicians has this eye-burning tool box. Can you guess the gender of the owner? She might be in the minority, but she's a hell of a technician, I'm told. See, ladies? You too can work in the fun and exciting world of Corporate Aviation Maintenance...

So there you are. As I said, if you've never been, you must make it a point to do so.

10/03/2011

Last week, I spent a few days in Western Colorado for training. While we were there, we had a chance to go look around the area (we were in Grand Junction). We took a short ride to the Colorado National Monument park. If you've never been, you need to go at some point in your life--the views were spectacular. I took pictures--lots of them. Here's where the technology comes into the story...

Once home, I dutifully extracted the SD card from my little point and shoot and plugged it into the USB card reader we used to have (more on that later). The drive icon popped up, I opened the drive, opened the folder, and the file thumbnails loaded. When I tried to transfer them from the card to the hard drive, the dreaded dialogue box "THIS CARD IS INCOMPATIBLE WITH THIS COMPUTER" pops up, with another dialogue box with the option to eject the drive (the flash memory). So, I select the eject button, the icon disappears, and the light on the reader goes out. We've had this issue before--simply reinsert the SD card into the drive, then reinsert the reader into the USB port and all is well. Not this time--I knew something was up when the icon was called "UNTITLED" rather than "NO NAME". I opened the drive, and the filenames were random characters. What's worse is that the filename extensions were also nonsensical. Rut-roh...

For grins, I ejected the drive once more and installed the SD card into the camera, went to the playback mode, and got the following message: "NO READABLE FILES". I took a quick snap of the little cat, who had decided to help me. Went through the whole "insert into reader, insert reader, open file" deal, and along with the scrambled filenames, I got the usual folders associated with the camera.

In the end, of 111 photos of Colorado's splendor, I managed to save 11. I still have to run them through Seashore, but I'm beside myself that the bulk of them are gone, 1's and 0's which just vanished into thin air. I don't often get very mad--I'm too old for that anymore--but I took the troublesome reader and smashed it. I couldn't find a hammer, so I used a pipe wrench...

I didn't do the same to the SD card, mainly in hopes that I can still salvage something. So, tomorrow I'm off to get a more reliable reader. Which is good, because this weeked saw the 25th Annual Atlanta Airliners Collectibles show--this year it was again held in the Delta Heritage Museum at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. Staying at the Renaissance has the added benefit of being able to sit on the balcony of the room and do some plane spotting. While the spate of mergers and bankruptcies has really cut down on the variety at the airport, there were still some interesting arrivals and departures that I managed to photograph.

So, once I have my tech glitches rectified, I'll have photos to share--I hope to have them up by the end of the week. Stay tuned...